


Pink Smoke in the Night

by dogfighter3000



Series: Fluff, Angst, and General Prompt Fills [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America Sam Wilson, Endgame never happened, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Sam Wilson Needs a Hug, Tumblr Prompt, Winter Soldier Vol. 2 (2018), i fucking hate endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29953248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogfighter3000/pseuds/dogfighter3000
Summary: Bucky practically deflated against the bed, flopping back like a puppet with cut strings. From where he was standing by the edge, bracketed by his boyfriend’s knees, Sam glanced from Bucky to the detached metal arm laying atop the mountain of unwashed clothes in the corner of his bedroom.“Have you been taking care of yourself?” And there was Sam’s therapist voice again.“Uh, I’ve kind of been busy fighting nazis,” Bucky mumbles back, following Sam’s gaze to his admittedly messy bedroom. “Kinda feel like defeating HYDRA is more important than washing my socks.”(general prompt #6 “Have you been taking care of yourself?”)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson
Series: Fluff, Angst, and General Prompt Fills [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178573
Kudos: 52





	Pink Smoke in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler Warning: I use content from both Avengers: Endgame and Agents of SHIELD (around the beginning of season 3) and also lots of stuff from the Winter Soldier (2018) comics
> 
> I used general prompt #6 from Prompt List #1 created by tumblr user v4lentiines on tumblr and also physical affection prompt #14 (play wrestling) from physical affection prompts! by promptingyou on tumblr and the title of the chapter is from Pink Smoke by The Scary Jokes and Pink in the Night by Mitski

“Leave me alone, Wilson. I’m going to bed.”

“Nah, you don’t get to play big, bad Winter Soldier on me right now. Not twenty-four hours ago you were dancing around the living room with that mangy fur ball you call a cat in your arms like a baby!”

“Her name is Alpine and I wasn’t dancing.”

“Finally, that’s the first true thing you’ve said since we got off the jet! That was more like an upright seizure than any dancing I’ve ever seen-”

“Are you done now?” Bucky grunts, turning to face Sam in the doorway to his bedroom. The both of them were still dressed head to toe in mission gear, grimey with the usual dirt and debris that clings to them after most missions. 

This last one hadn’t been like most missions. 

Ever since the great HYDRA outing of 2014, SHIELD had been in shambles. A fractured shard of what the organization once was, and that was probably for the best. What remained was a couple handful of extremely valuable agents hiding from the remnants of HYDRA and the US government all led by former agent Phil Coulson. Both Bucky and Sam had missed the catalyst for the Avengers formation, bloody Captain America collector’s cards and all, but they knew the team had a weird and extremely loyal relationship to the man. So when Coulson was desperate enough to call in a favor with the Avengers to help capture a particularly damaging and elusive group of HYDRA operatives, of course the Avengers agreed. 

This particular group of operatives had apparently been escaping SHIELD’s grasp for near months now. Which was all the more surprising when their elite squad of specialists were taken into account. They had a tech whiz who could give even Tony Stark a run for his money. This self-proclaimed hacker, Daisy, claimed she’d finally found a way to tap into and decode the operative’s super secret communications line and had found evidence that they’d be passing through a small town in central Europe. As soon as they got the news, the whole gang suited up and boarded, what the agents of SHIELD so affectionately dubbed, the Bus, hoping to make it to the town before HYDRA did.

But when have things ever gone well when HYDRA’s involved?

It took them only two hours at top speed to get from the Avengers Compound to Europe, and by the time they got there it was already too late. The small town that had been listed as HYDRA’s meeting point had been torn apart, half the buildings smoldering and smoking next to the rubble of the other remaining buildings. It was as if war had broken out in the middle of nowhere town and there were few survivors who would live to tell the tale. Which was the first action they took in the devastation, rushing to the few survivors wheezing and coughing in the streets as they struggled to stumble out of burning buildings. Steve and Sam were gathering the civilians while Bruce ran back to the jet to call for medevac. 

“They can’t be too far from here. I’m going to follow their trail and see if we can’t pin ‘em down,” Tony had informed the team through the comms, repulsors whirring as he got ready to blast off to the other edge of the town.

“You’re taking me with you, Stark,” Bucky grunted, wedging the fingers of his vibranium arm into the edge of Iron Man’s shoulder plate and hooking an ankle around one of his legs. The Winter Soldier wasn’t as friendly a face as Captain America, especially after they’d just been attacked by HYDRA. He’d leave the brunt of the rescuing done to those of them who weren’t known for assassinating former US presidents.

“Barton and I will check the buildings for more civilians. Come back safe, boys,” Natasha winked at Bucky from where she and Clint were working on busting the hinges off a jammed door into a precariously leaning house. He just nodded in return and held on tight as Tony started off past the wreckage, following tire tracks in the snow.

It only took about a five minutes flight to catch up with the speeding chain of armored vehicles off-roading through the woods. From the back of one of the Humvees an agent started shooting at the two of them. They’d been spotted. Bucky didn’t hesitate to drop from where he was clinging to Iron Man’s armor, rolling to the ground and pulling his machine gun from his back to return fire. Stark provided assistance from above, alternating between shooting repulsor blasts and projectiles into the back of the truck as Bucky took out their tires.

The cars in front slid to a halt, forming a semi-circle around the last Humvee in the line, the one that they’d been focusing on taking out. A strange chill ran down Bucky’s spine as he glanced around the surrounding vehicles. It all felt eerily similar in the way a barely there memory always was for him.

Where had he seen this before?

A wave of energy and a loud sound like a gunshot assaulted the two Avengers. Iron Man fell into the snow like a lead sinker, Bucky’s knees hit the ground, his left arm dead at his side, and the comms that had provided a background hum of his teammates evacuating town went silent. The only sound left was the harsh winter wind rushing through the trees and the sound of a car door being opened. 

The memory he’d been grasping at came back to him at full force, but it was like looking at it through a funhouse mirror as a young boy stepped out from the heavily armored car in a black suit and mask.

“Wow!” The teen grinned, eyes disturbingly gleeful from behind the black mask strapped to his face in a mockery of the way HYDRA used to cover Bucky’s face during missions. The kid pulled a gun from the arsenal of weapons strapped to him and started lazily strolling towards where Bucky’s frozen in the snow. “Mr. Barnes...here in the flesh. I’m honestly pretty excited to kill you.”

Bucky recognizes all of this, the armored vehicles, the agents pouring out of them and getting into position. But mostly he recognizes the soldier in front of him. That was him. A new Winter Soldier.

“I’m a big fan,” his replacement looked full of glee as he took aim through the scope of his gun. “To be honest, I didn’t think I’d get to meet you so soon.”

“Who the hell are you?” Bucky grunted, dreading the answer as he struggled to his feet with the deadweight of his vibranium arm dangling uselessly and throwing him off balance.

“Anyway, I promise I’ll be quick, Mr. Barnes,” The boy barreled right through, ignoring Bucky entirely as his finger wrapped around the trigger. “Maybe next time your little tech friend will think twice about where she decides to get her intel from!”

“Not so fast, boy wonder!” Stark shouts, repulsor blast firing off and just barely managing to hit the teen in the shoulder, flinging him back several yards. “Hop on, Barnes! We’re outgunned. We’ll never make it out of this alive.”

The armor’s somehow back on line and Tony wasn’t waiting for Bucky’s assent as he wraps an arm around his waist, and jets them up through the trees and out of there.

“That was a mistake, Tony Stark!” The outraged kid called from below, firing off a few shots after them.

Bucky stared after him as long as he could while they soar back to town. There’s a feeling like dread blocking up his throat and he slaps at the shoulder of the armor almost frantically before he finds his voice again.

“-Go back. Stark, we’ve gotta go back!” Bucky rasped out, trying to shove out of Tony’s grasp despite being about over a hundred feet in the air.

“Did that EMP fry your cyborg brain or something??” adjusting his grip on the squirming soldier, Tony glanced back at Bucky worriedly. “We were woefully outmanned down there. I’m all for a two man takedown but they had the technology to knock the suit out for a good couple minutes and with your arm out of commission there’s no way we’d make it out of that battle whole. Hell, you almost didn’t make it out of there whole. If I hadn’t gotten my suit rebooted in time he might’ve-”

“He’s a kid! That was just a kid down there, we’ve got to get him out of there, or-or-”

“Or what, Barnes?” Tony groaned, slowing down as they made it back over to where the Bus was parked. “‘Cause it looked to me, when the suit came back online, that that ‘kid’ was getting ready to paint the snow with your brains and you were just going to let him.”

Bucky shoved away from Iron Man with a near growl, letting himself drop the last few feet between them and the ash covered asphalt. It took constant reminding that Stark knew all too well how to push buttons and get information, and an even more constant reminder that it wouldn’t do well for team morale if he were to rip Stark out of that stupid tin can and lay him out for speaking on things he’d never understand. 

“Woah, slow your roll, Barnes. Where’s the fire?” Sam put a steadying hand on Bucky’s chest as they nearly collided on the soldier’s way back to the Bus. “Well, I mean besides the actual fires we’re still putting out in the village, but-”

“Need to talk to Daisy. She’s got a lot of fucking explaining to do,” shrugging out of his Sam’s grasp, Bucky steps around him and continues marching his way up the loading dock of the huge jet. 

“Jesus, Buck. What’s gotten into you? What ha-”

“Who the fuck was your informant, Daisy,” Bucky demanded the second he found her in the Bus’ lab, making her jump up from where she’d been nose deep in her computer.

“Informant? I...I don’t understand,” Daisy’s shocked, she plays it off well, but Bucky’s been doing this since the forties and sees right through it. She knows exactly what he’s talking about and she’s nervous.

“I hardly see how any of this is appropriate, Sergeant Barnes,” Leo Fitz, a brilliant engineer on Coulson’s team, interjected, coming up to stand behind Daisy protectively.

“The HYDRA operatives. They knew we were coming,” Bucky barely managed to grit out. “Who was your informant.”

“Christ, Barnes, would you lay off the girl?” Sam had chased after him and was attempting to tug Bucky out of the room by his still dead arm. “I’m sorry, Daisy, no clue what’s gotten into him-”

“He said I could trust him, I didn’t know I…” Daisy trailed off, arms wrapped around herself as she glanced to her laptop guiltily. 

The room was silent now as it’s occupants turned to stare at her.

“Daisy...you didn’t…” Fitz sighed, looking exasperated and leaning heavily on the light table in the center of the lab.

“Who did you contact,” Bucky asked a final time.

“His name is Grant Ward. He’s a former HYDRA agent,” Daisy sighed, slumping into her chair and rubbing her temples. “But he’s...he HAD gotten free of all that, I thought. He’d found someone to care about, left HYDRA behind...I didn’t think he would...God, Sergeant Barnes, I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”

“It’s too late now,” Bucky was exhausted and shaking from all the pent up energy inside him all at the same time. “Next time you should think of letting the team know before you give us intel from the mouths of former HYDRA agents.”

That’d been the last thing Bucky had said until they’d gotten back to the Avengers Compound. They had no choice but to go back to the Compound, Bucky’s arm still wasn’t working and the only tools they had capable of working on it were still at the lab. 

Tony had filled in the teams with what he’d seen before and after the suit went dead, and how they’d need updated comms and weapons before they confronted that particular group of operatives again. Bucky hadn’t even bothered with debrief, sitting on the loading dock through the entire flight and storming out of it as soon as the Bus landed. The only team member brave enough to chase after him was Sam.

“No, I’m not done,” Sam uses the tone of voice everybody on the team had affectionately dubbed his therapist voice. It drove Bucky absolutely insane with how easily it calmed him down. “What happened out there, Buck.”

“There was,” Bucky starts, choking on his words. It’s like a physical blockage in his throat that he’s struggling to squeeze the words through. He starts pacing anxiously in front of his bedroom door, left arm swinging around and getting in his way. “Was another one.”

“Another one? One of what?”

“Of me!” Bucky growls, turning to detach his useless arm and toss it into his bedroom before continuing his pacing. “They made another fucking soldier. Only it’s worse this time because he’s so small! He can’t be any older than sixteen, Sam. Sixteen! And-and he disabled my stupid arm! I couldn’t get him out of there, away from HYDRA, I couldn’t-I-”

“Hold on, Buck. Breath for me for a second,” Sam shushes Bucky, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him close, halting the agitated pacing. “You’re saying there’s another Winter Soldier out there?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” Bucky huffs, torn between giving in to the urge to curl up with his boyfriend or shrug out of his grasp so he can go punch something. “He’s different than I was. More aware. The brainwashing, the mind wiping, it kept me under all the time. I would have escaped a long time ago if it wasn’t. He was...aware, and young. So young.”

“Alright, it’s okay,” Sam murmurs and gently walks Bucky backwards into his room. His knees hit the bed and Bucky sits down heavily. “Stark managed to plant a tracker on one of their trucks before they hit ‘em with that EMP wave. We’ll find them again.”

Bucky practically deflated against the bed, flopping back like a puppet with cut strings. They WOULD find them again. Between the tracker and the general idea of where and how the operatives move now, it was only a matter of time before they would find the kid again. Next time Bucky would save him. From where he was standing by the edge, bracketed by his boyfriend’s knees, Sam glanced from Bucky to the detached metal arm laying atop the mountain of unwashed clothes in the corner of his bedroom.

“Have you been taking care of yourself?” And there was Sam’s therapist voice again.

“Uh, I’ve kind of been busy fighting nazis,” Bucky mumbles back, following Sam’s gaze to his admittedly messy bedroom. “Kinda feel like defeating HYDRA is more important than washing my socks.”

“I’m not gonna chew you out for it, but you know my opinion on the matter,” Sam starts and Bucky can almost say the next sentence along with him. “An uncluttered living space can do wonders for uncluttering the mess inside your mind sometimes.”

Bucky groans loud and obnoxious, poking Sam’s thigh with a socked foot, hoping it would express his displeasure sufficiently. Sam retaliated by swatting his ankle. 

“Awww, is somebody mad I’m talking mental health with them?” Sam jeers, a crooked smirk on his face as he leans over Bucky and starts poking his sides. “Big ol’ tough Brooklyn boy from the forties is too manly to talk about his feelings with his boyfriend, huh?”

“Oh yeah, doll. Go ahead and psychoanalyze me. You know how hot it gets me when you scrutinize me like I’m some kinda lab rat,” Bucky shoots back, a slow grin creeping up his own face. He hooks a leg behind one of Sam’s knees, knocking him down onto the bed with him.

“I am NOT psychoanalyzing you right now!” Sam laughs in shock, ruffling up Bucky’s long hair so it covers his eyes.

“And I am NOT dodging questions about my feelings,” Bucky grins as he rolls over on top of Sam, pinning him to the bed with his chest.

“Hate to break it to you, babe, but answering my very legitimate question with a joke counts as dodging the question,” Flipping the two of them with a move that he must have learned from Natasha, seeing as how it left Bucky nearly stunned and on his back afterwards, Sam raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you taking care of yourself?”

“You’ve only been on Cap duty for two weeks, doll. I’m not going to fall apart the second you leave. I was a full grown man who could take care of himself before HYDRA turned my brain into soup, you know that, right?” Bucky sighs, suddenly less interested in keeping their impromptu wrestling match up.

“Hey, you know I didn’t mean anything like that,” Sam mutters quietly as he trails kisses along his jaw before placing a quick peck on his lips. “I just want you to know that if things do start getting bad again, you can talk to me. Or Nat, Or your therapist, or whoever you need to talk to so you can get your head on straight again. Just ‘cause I’m busy learning the ropes from Steve doesn’t mean I can’t make time for you.”

“I really am fine, Sam. I mean, besides freaking out on the Bus back there, but you gotta understand I can’t let another living soul go through what I did,” Bucky’s really over talking about his feelings now, but knows it’s just going to fester and turn into something worse if they don’t sort it out now. A full-blown breakdown is NOT something Sam needs right now. Especially with the added stress on his hands of Steve’s upcoming retirement where the Falcon will be officially taking up the Captain America mantle. “What about you, huh? Stevie’s not running you ragged, is he?”

Sam chuckles lowly, resting his head on Bucky’s right shoulder, “It’s really not what you think it is. It’s not like he’s taking me around teaching me how to kiss babies and seem larger than life in that annoying ass way that he’s totally oblivious to. The only thing that could be actually considered as training is when I practice throwing the shield.”

“You sound tired,” Bucky murmurs against Sam’s forehead.

“I am tired. I don’t think I’ll ever live up to the legacy he’s created,” Sam is glad he followed Bucky instead of heading to debrief, the full brunt of his exhaustion hits him at once and it’s suddenly a major effort to keep his eyes open.

“No, you’ll be so much better,” Bucky’s voice is practically at a whisper at this point. “Steve was just some idiot in the right place at the right time. I’m not discounting all the good he’s done, but he had no idea what he was signing up for that day. You on the other hand? You’ve seen what it’s all about and you’re brave enough to go after it anyways. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Sam.”

Sam doesn’t bury his face into Bucky’s chest like he wants to at the uncharacteristically sweet words coming from his boyfriend, but it’s a near thing. The only thing stopping him was the ash and dirt covering Bucky’s leather gear. They were still both absolutely gross from the battlefield.

“Alright, you big sap, I love you too. Now let’s go shower up and take a nap in MY bed, ‘cause yours is now utterly disgusting,” Sam smiles as he sits up in Bucky’s lap. Bucky follows him and groans at the dusty mess now smeared across his good comforter.

“God dammit. Now I HAVE to do my laundry.”

**Author's Note:**

> we've done it, folks! I have taken a random prompt fill fic and given it a storyline I will now be stretching out over several fics! I've gone ahead and attached this fic into the "Pink Smoke" series where I will continue updating this story. So feel free to bookmark that series if you want to know when the next part comes out. Thanks for reading!


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